Impending Fate, All Flowers Die
by ghost286
Summary: Set in the world of Madoka Magica, Midori struggles with newfound knowledge of magic and magical girls and all danger that accompanies these revelations.


It's been over a year since dad died yet it feels like it was yesterday. He was one of over fifty victims that died in a gas explosion at the oil refinery in Kawasaki last January. Mom didn't take it very well and not receiving compensation after a whole year has made her take on a second job all the way in Chiba which wears on her even more. Me being busy with school again and her being busy every day means Mom and I almost never see each other anymore. I wish there was some way I could help but mom says the only way I should help is by doing my best in school.

**4/13**

It's been a few days since school started. I was a bit nervous to go back because I haven't really talked to any of my friends since last semester ended. Today I was actually able to wake up early and I decide to leave sooner than normal. It's fairly chilly today but I feel like it's going to get hot like it did yesterday; I always hate that the first semester doesn't start with us in our summer uniforms. I stop by the convenience store at the train station and buy lunch for later and head out for school. I check my phone for the time and see that I'm still early on account of my commute only being about twenty minutes. I put in my earbuds and turn on some music; my favorite group released a new album the other day. After a few minutes someone taps on my shoulder. I take out an earbud and turn to see who it was.

"I didn't know you walked this way in the morning, Tachibana-san." It was Sato Haruka, the president of the track team. I put my earbuds in my skirt-pocket, "I just so happen to wake up early for once." She was tall and fit; her hair was long and silky and looked perfect. "How come you didn't show up to practice yesterday? You never missed a single meeting last year," she asks in a kind way. "I missed a few last year for a family issue, but I missed yesterday because I rolled my ankle going down the stairs. I'm sorry, Sato-Senpai, I'll try to show up today." My ankle is still pretty sore but I can't miss more than a handful of meetings before I get kicked from the team. "Alright, but don't push yourself too hard. I don't want you hurting yourself even more." She looks at her watch then back up at me, "Well, I'd better get going. I have to fill out a few forms for new members. I'll see you later." I wave goodbye, "See you later, Senpai." I put in my earbuds and continue walking.

I walk a little further and notice a strange shape on a two-story building just past the train tracks I need to cross in front of me; it looks like a cat at first glance but when I look at it again it's gone. I walk towards the tracks when I feel the ground shaking indicating that a train is coming, but the arms of the crossing barrier haven't come down yet. I'm within a meter of the tracks when a train comes speeding towards me. I jump backward away from the tracks and fall down as the train speeds past. I clutch at my chest and take huge gasps of air; I feel sick to my stomach and I can feel my heart pound in my throat. The barrier begins closing shortly after the first few cars sped by. I shakily stand up and brush off my skirt. I feel a few tears run down my face and I wipe them away with my handkerchief. As the tracks clear and the barrier goes up I check to make sure no other trains are coming and hurry across the tracks. My legs feel like jelly and I feel even sicker because of the adrenaline subsiding. I sit on the nearest bench and go over what just happened a million times in my head. I look at the tracks and imagine what could have happened and I shudder.

I go to check my bag to see if my laptop is damaged but I see that weird cat-shaped thing sitting on the bench next to me. "What the hell..?" It's white with these beady red unblinking eyes and looks like a cat with a squirrel tail; it doesn't look like any animal I've seen. "I've been observing you for quite a while, Midori." I yelp and nearly slide off the bench. It can talk? Is it the shock getting to me? "What the hell? What are you?"

"My name is Kyubey. I'm what's referred to as a 'messenger of magic.' You see, over the last year, I have watched you: through your high-points, low-points, your anger, and sadness. You blame yourself for what happened to your father."

"What..?"

"This must be very confusing to you. Follow me." He hops off the bench and starts walking down the street to the left of where I was headed. I follow after. "My responsibility is to let girls like you, girls with strong wills and kind hearts, discover their full potential and defend the world against a powerful and dark force."

"Dark force? What do you mean?"

"There's a reason why bad things happen: muggings, assaults, rapes, murders, and even suicides. It's because of this dark force, witches they're called, that these terrible things happen. Your father was killed because he fell victim to one of these witches and caused a gas leak resulting in the deaths of dozens of others."

"But they said it was an accident.."

"It wasn't he who did it, but a witch that influenced him. The stress and poor working conditions he experienced drew in witches that lead him to take his own life along with many others." I look down and think about that for a few moments. That must be why we haven't received compensation, it wasn't an accident. "How are you supposed to stop that sort of thing?"

"The Puella Magi, girls with powerful magical abilities, have the responsibility of destroying witches and halting their influence on an individual or group. They do this by entering the Barrier and stopping the witch in her own realm. This is the only way to stop them, which is why I need your help."

"Couldn't you get someone else?"

"I have. It is very dangerous to be a Puella Magi and those whose wills are not strong enough do not last long."

"They...die?"

He turns and looks at me with his red eyes, "Yes. It's always disheartening to see it happen but it does happen." His tail twitches as he stops and he looks towards a girl headed my way. She's a first-year at my school. She's slightly taller than me, she's also thinner with longer hair and a larger 'build' than me. I wish I looked that good with long hair. "I see you've met Kyubey," she says as she gets closer. "Ehh?"

"You almost got pancaked by that train, no? What made you do that?"

"What made me do that? The barrier wouldn't close until after the train passed."

"Funny you mention a barrier." She stops and kicks a rock. _What does she mean?_ "No wonder you're a candidate." Kyubey jumps onto her shoulder and sits, his tail twitching. "This is Watanabe Suzuka. She's a Puella Magi that signed a contract a few months ago."

She offers her hand. Her wrist has a gold bracelet with an amethyst gem in the band. I take her hand and we shake hands. "I'm Tachibana Midori."

"It's nice to meet you, Tachibana-Senpai. I'd say you owe me a few thanks and congratulations but you've already given me what I need."

"What do you mean?" Kyubey's tail twitches quite a bit. "I can't tell you until tonight." She touches her phone to my phone in my left hand and they both beep. "I'll text you where we should meet tonight." I look at my phone to see that she added her contact info to my phone and vice versa. When I look up both Kyubey and Suzuka are gone. On my way to school, I try to make sense of my morning: I almost died, I learned that magic existed, met a weird cat thing, met a "Puella Magi" or whatever that is. It's almost too much to handle. It almost feels like a dream.

I walk into class and sit at my desk which is in the middle and three seats back. I take out a light novel, some story about a guy going to another world to be an adventurer like in an RPG, and read until the start of class. The homeroom teacher walks in; he is an attractive twenty-something teacher who wasn't here last year because he just graduated college. I fail to focus all the way to lunch, unable to remember much material at all from the last couple of hours. I can't seem to stomach my food so I head to the water fountain to drink and also to catch my breath. As I drink, I hear footsteps heading my way. I look to see who it is. "Oh hello, Watanabe-san."

"Just call me Suzuka." I wipe the water from my mouth and face her. "Alright, then you can just call me Midori." Kyubey is on her shoulder. "Can no one see him?" He answers, "Only those I choose to reveal myself to, such as you and Suzuka."

"I see... So, what is it you need?" Suzuka leans against the wall casually, "I just wanted to check on you and see how you were doing. After all, you nearly kicked the bucket."

"Was I really that close?" She nods. "I'll explain tonight." I take a breath, nervous about what she has to show me, "Alright, I'll see you tonight." She nods and I head back to class to finish my lunch.

After school, I head to the gym locker room and get ready for track club. I put on my gym shorts, socks, jersey, and running shoes and tuck in my shirt. I was a bit early as shortly after I started getting dressed, the other girls had begun showing up. The president is among the first to arrive. She starts getting ready and I catch myself looking at her, feeling a bit guilty but also a bit jealous. I sigh and head out to the track. My ankle is still sore but I think I can run on it without doing damage. For the next few hours, we train; stretches and warm-up exercises, jogging, sprints, and timed laps. By the end, my ankle is aching quite a bit but I had fun still outrunning most of the team. On the way home I take a route that doesn't require me to go over train tracks. I get a text from Suzuka. _Meet me at Shibuya Station at 10:00. Wear something you can move in. _I hurry home to get started on my homework for the night; some math and English worksheets. I cook a simple stir-fry meal, eat some, and leave the rest in the fridge for mom when she gets home. I take a bath and get ready for tonight; I put on trainers, navy sweatpants, a loose-fitting off-shoulder top, and a Yomiuri Giants baseball cap. I grab my billfold, some change, my phone, and earbuds, then head out. It's around 9:30 at this point. Shibuya Station is about a 20-minute walk from my apartment if you go the right way. On the way, I take in the nighttime city; huge buildings with bright signs advertising all sorts of things from movies, events, and fashion lines. It's honestly breathtaking. I get to the entrance of Shibuya Station and look around for Suzuka. After a few minutes, I hear my name from behind, "Oi, I'm over here Midori!" I turn around and there she is, with Kyubey on her shoulder. She's wearing faded black jeans with a hole in the left knee, an old band t-shirt, black combat boots, and a red unzipped hoodie. Her hair is in a loose ponytail. "You ready?"

We walk a while until we get to a small house where yelling can be heard. "What's going on in there?" I ask, unable to see quite what's going on since the curtains are closed. "A man has recently been terminated from his high-paying job because of something he did not do. For the past few days, he has gotten drunk and verbally abused his wife and kids, claiming it was their fault for his termination," Kyubey explains without a hint of emotion. "How did you know about that?" I ask, somewhat confused. "A few days ago, a sizeable Barrier started developing here. A witch has taken hold of this individual."

"What's gonna happen?" My heart beats a bit harder because I start thinking of what might happen. "Tonight he began getting physical. At this rate, someone will be dead before tomorrow," Kyubey's tail twitches as he says this. Suddenly a bright light envelops Suzuka. I shield my eyes; as the light fades I turn back and see that Suzuka is wearing a black and purple dress that looks like a cross between a geisha and a shinobi from those old movies. The dress comes to knee length and she's wearing a face mask that covers her nose and mouth. Her hair is an unnatural purple and so are her eyes. On each hip is a tachi, wakizashi, and tanto. On her back are two odachis with deep curves. "Stop staring so much." I blush and look away a bit. Next to her, a bright circle of light opens up. She holds out her hand; I go to her and take it.

We go into the light and on the other side, we are greeted by a dark hellscape that looks like an old children's picture book. The sight is horrifying; an abstract shape dominates the center of my view. "W-what the hell is that thing?" I can't help my voice from being shaky. "That's a witch. I've got to kill her before he can hurt his family. I want you to stay here." She hands me the tachi from her left hip that immediately gets replaced by another one. She jumps what looks like thirty meters in the air and throws several horokudama at the witch that explode on contact. Being blasted back from the explosion she jumps off the wall towards the witch and takes out her odachi and cuts a large portion from the witch with a burst of bright purple light. The whole room shakes and a portion of the ceiling falls to the ground in front of me. What looks like several miniature versions of the witch start shuffling towards me. I scream and take a swing at one. The razor-sharp blade cleaves right through one of them, causing it to evaporate into pitch-black mist. One lunges at me but is destroyed by a spinning odachi that had been thrown by Suzuka. There are two more of the creatures left and I cut through one and then the other. Meanwhile, Suzuka is throwing bomb after bomb, sword after sword at the witch. Not once has she landed on the ground; it's as though she can fly. She takes one big slash at the center of the witch and cuts straight through the middle. Instantly the witch evaporates in a similar fashion as the smaller versions. She lands in front of me and is slightly out of breath. The sword in my hands disappears and she sheathes her odachi.

She grabs my arm and we run out from where we entered. Suzuka's outfit has gone back to normal and she's holding a black spherical gem and an egg-shaped purple gem with black clouds swirling inside it. "What are those?" She holds up the purple one, "This is my soul-gem. It's a physical representation of my soul. I use this thing called a grief-seed to remove magical corruption from my soul-gem so I can keep using my magical abilities." She demonstrates what she talked about by placing the grief-seed next to her soul-gem. The black clouds from the gem begin transferring to the grief-seed until the gem is a pure purple color. "I'm surprised at how well you handled yourself in there. You might just make it as a Puella Magi." She starts walking off. "Suzuka, wait. What's going to happen with him?" I point to the house. She shakes her head, "Who knows, but what I do know is that no one's going to die in that house tonight. I'll see you tomorrow, and don't worry, I won't take you to nearly as dangerous of a Barrier as that any time soon." I wave slowly, somewhat in shock because of all that's happened today. I suddenly feel tired and head straight home. It's midnight when I get home and I collapse face-first on my bed.


End file.
